South Africa has moved up to the 13th from the 15th position in Ernst & Young’s latest renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) thanks to the country’s successful green energy procurement programme.South Africa managed to outrun Belgium, which kept its 14th place, and replace the Netherlands at the 13th position. The African country was the 4th most attractive market globally for concentrated solar power (CSP) projects and 8th in solar photovoltaics (PV).The main reason for the country's ascend in the index is the April announcement that the capacity to be awarded under the national Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme will be expanded by 6.3 GW. The scheme has already helped secure 5.2 GW of renewables capacity with an estimated investment value of about USD 14 billion (EUR 12.39bn).When it comes to the amount of clean energy investment in the first quarter of 2015, South Africa was the “shining star” with USD 3.1 billion compared to almost nothing a year back.